Ukraine runs into resistance in East

Apr. 17, 2014
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Armed men wearing military fatigues gather by Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) as they stand guard outside the regional state building seized by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk on April 16, 2014. / Genya Savilov, AFP/Getty Images

by Olga Rudenko, Special for USA TODAY

by Olga Rudenko, Special for USA TODAY

DONETSK, Ukraine â?? The Ukrainian army ran into resistance Wednesday to its offensive in eastern Ukraine following weeks of protests and the takeover of government buildings by pro-Russian insurgents.

Insurgents in Kramatorsk said they took control of six Ukrainian armored vehicles that arrived as part of an operation to clear pro-Russian separatists from government buildings they have been occupying for days in a bid to demand a vote on joining Russia.

The drove the vehicles and their crews to the nearby city of Slovyank, where insurgents had taken over the police station and other buildings days ago.

"We are not afraid of the army," said Dmitriy Di, spokesman for People's Guard of Donbas, an insurgents' organization, as he stood among the captured vehicles in Slovyansk. "We are prepared."

"We will use them (the vehicles) at least to block streets," he said. "The soldiers will be free to join us or to return to their bases."

Many Ukrainians applauded the arrival of the Ukrainian forces they hope will calm the unrest that Ukraine says is being aided Moscow. Russia has positioned thousands of troops on its border with Ukraine and has threatened to intervene in the unrest as it did in the Ukrainian province of Crimea, now under control of Russian military troops.

Meanwhile, NATO announced it was strengthening its military footprint in some countries that border Russia, but not Ukraine. And Western diplomats planned to meet Thursday in Geneva with Russian foreign ministers to seek a peaceful solution.

European officials were also considering strengthening sanctions already imposed on Russia, as is President Obama.

"Each time Russia takes these kinds of steps, that are designed to destabilize Ukraine and violate their sovereignty, that there are going to be consequences," Obama said.

Meantime, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Russia was directing the actions of the insurgents and had already infiltrated Ukraine with special operations forces.

"Russia has got a new export now, apart from oil and gas: Russia is now exporting terrorism to Ukraine," Yatsenyuk said Wednesday. "Russia must withdraw its sabotage groups, condemn terrorists and liberate all administrative buildings."

Russian markets have been spooked by the chaos. The Russian economy slowed sharply in the first three months of the year as spooked investors pulled money out of the country.

Ukraine had taken days to respond to the takeovers of police stations and government offices in at least eight cities in eastern Ukraine. As in Crimea, bands of Russian-speaking armed men are insisting on a referendum to secede from Ukraine.

A similar vote was held in Crimea, a move the West called illegal and unconstitutional.

The insurgents who took over the armored vehicles also commandeered their crews and hoisted Russian flags over the trucks.The Ukrainian soldiers in the vehicles did not resist.

Around 100 civilians in Slovyank gathered near city hall to welcome the captured vehicles. Some complained that what they want is a measure of autonomy from Kiev, not to join Russia.

"We don't want to feed Kiev anymore," said Svitlana Borysenko, 72, who blamed the Ukrainian government for her small monthly pension. "We want independence for Donetsk region, and we want to stay in Ukraine.

Others here said they want to break from the country.

"Russians are our brothers. We have closer ties with them than we do with western Ukraine. Why should we be apart?" said Valentyna Denysova, 42 of Kramatorsk.

Tetyana Kustova, 35, a sales clerk, was appalled by the unrest.

"They are pushing us towards Russia," she said. "They are tearing Ukraine into pieces."

Vitaliy Nayda, head of the Ukraine's counterintelligence service State Security Service, said Moscow is preparing to force another sham referendum in eastern Ukraine as it did in Crimea so its soldiers can enforce the annexation of the region.

Unidentified armed masked men in camouflage who appeared to be professional soldiers could be seen at barricades that the pro-Russian Ukrainians have set outside occupied buildings. Similar men who appeared in Crimea were said to be Russian soldiers but the armed men in Kramatorsk refused to talk to the media.

People in Kramatorsk tried to negotiate with Ukrainian army soldiers sitting atop armored vehicles and get them to give up. A unit of Ukrainian paratroopers deployed near the city of Izyum said the number of civilians involved in the protests made their jobs difficult.

"Civilians are the victims of propaganda, and allow themselves to be used as a human shield," said Gen. Vasiliy Krutov, the commander of what Ukraine has said are "anti-terrorist operations." "It complicates our job a lot."

Krutov estimated that about 300 undercover Russian soldiers have crossed the border into eastern Ukraine. He said most of them are deployed in Slovyansk.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Russian President Vladimir Putin late Tuesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine and preparations for diplomatic talks in Geneva on Thursday. The Kremlin said Putin told Merkel that "the sharp escalation of the conflict places the country in effect on the verge of a civil war."

Merkel's office said she and Putin had "different assessments" of the events in Ukraine.